Mass. home sales up for third consecutive month in September

Monday

Nov 30, 2009 at 3:00 PM

WALTHAM, Mass. — Single-family home sales increased for the third straight month compared to the same time last year, according to the Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® latest report. Median prices were down only 1.7 percent compared to September 2008, while condominium median prices were up 1.7 percent.

WALTHAM, Mass. — Single-family home sales increased for the third straight month compared to the same time last year, according to the Massachusetts Association of REALTORSÂ® latest report. Median prices were down only 1.7 percent compared to September 2008, while condominium median prices were up 1.7 percent.

For the fourth month in a row, the number of pending sales (homes put under agreement in September) was up seven percent from the same time last year.

"We really feel that the past three months of positive home sales are a result of the $8,000 tax credit and its impending expiration date," said MAR President Gary Rogers, a broker with RE/MAX First Realty in Waltham.

There were 3,433 detached single-family homes sold this September, a 4.6 percent increase from the 3,282 homes sold the same time last year. On a month-to-month basis, home sales were down 15.4 percent from 4,058 homes sold this past August. A significant decrease in single-family sales from August to September is typical.

The median selling price for single-family homes in September was $290,000, a decrease of 1.7 percent compared to $295,000 in September 2008. In addition, the September median price was up 15 percent from the 2009 low of $252,500 in February. On a month-to-month basis, the September median selling price was down 7.9 percent from $315,000 in August 2009. Similar to sales, median prices typically experience an August-to-September drop.

The September condominium market was up 12.2 percent compared to the same time last year (from 1,300 units sold in 2008 to 1,459 units sold in 2009). On a month-to-month basis, condominium sales were down 16.5 percent compared to the 1,748 units sold this past August. A month-to-month decrease in sales in typical from August to September.

Condominium median selling prices in September were up 1.7 percent from $255,000 in 2008 to $259,450 in 2009. The September median price was up $55,450 (27 percent) from the 2009 low of $204,000 January. On a month-to-month basis, the median selling price of a condominium was down 7.0 percent from a August median of $279,000.

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